The US rapper claims the anonymous woman and her lawyers knowingly proceeded with false claim that he and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped her when she was 13.
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Last month, an anonymous woman who had accused Jay-Z and Sean 'Diddy' Combs of raping her in 2000 at an MTV VMA after-party withdrew her lawsuit.
Now, Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, has sued the woman in question, with the 55-year-old music mogul launching a defamation lawsuit.
The rapper reportedly said the woman and the lawyers representing her "were soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth" and alleged that they caused harm to his personal and professional reputation.
Carter is reported to have filed the lawsuit, accusing the woman and her lawyers Tony Buzbee and David Fortney of engaging in an “evil conspiracy” to extort him, in a federal court in Alabama, where the woman - referred to only as "Jane Doe" - lives.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the suit was filed on Monday (3 March) and it alleges that Carter’s representatives made contact with Doe. She is said to have admitted concocting her claims about Carter.
“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story,” the suit claims. “She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself – whom she met for the first time at a coffee shop in Houston on the day of her maliciously false NBC News interview – who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday.”
The initial allegation was withdrawn with prejudice last month and cannot be brought back to court.
At the time the lawsuit was withdrawn, Jay-Z said: "Today is a victory. These frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone."
Jay-Z is seeking a jury trial as well as real and punitive damages, citing damage to his family and reputation and $20 million (€18.5 million) in lost business for Roc Nation.
Combs is currently in prison in New York awaiting a scheduled 5 May criminal trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.